Wednesday, February 18, 2009

After Sheriff's Request, Omaha Police to begin Sex Offender Monitoring


Today Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning formally requested the assistance of the Omaha Police in monitoring the Registration of Sex Offenders in Omaha.

He stated:

It was not my intent to get involved in the debate between City Councilman Jim Vokal and the Omaha Police Officers’ Association over the sex offender issue. However, several news stories in the last few days have included facts about the role our office plays in tracking sex offenders that need to be clarified and I felt it was important to set the record straight.

First, let me verify that I am, in fact, on record as saying that our office could definitely use the he lp in keeping track of sex offenders who are required by state law to register their addresses with authorities. And I still feel that way today. There are over 775 Sex Offenders in Douglas County, 351 of them are Level Three Sex Offenders that have the highest likelihood that they would re-offend.

It is true that sex offenders are extremely high risks for committing another sex crime after their release from prison and there is no question that children in the neighborhoods where they live are potentially in danger. Parents have a right to be aware of this danger and we are responsible for ensuring that these offenders are living where they say they are living.

It is an extremely difficult task, as many of these convicted sex offenders will register fa lse addresses or not inform our office of subsequent moves. Obviously, electronic monitoring would be a helpful solution, however, it is not yet permissible.

While I realize that there is no legal obligation for the City of Omaha to help us with this important job, I feel that it is an area where city-county cooperation makes sense. We have cooperative arrangements in many other areas, why not on this? In fact, this type of cooperation is going on in many other jurisdictions in our area.

Let me also say that Officer Virgil Patlan, who was active in his neighborhood and concerned about the number of sex offenders that needed to be checked, made the issue before the City Council a few years ago. This was a legitimate request for assistance on a very real problem that faces many neighborhoods in Omaha. It was always my thought that officers would make these checks during normal working hours while they were on other calls in areas where sex offenders are living. Any ordinance could easily be crafted to ensure that no overtime be accrued.

While I respect the City Council’s right to reject our plea for help, I still believe that this ordinance would be extremely helpful in protecting children in Omaha neighborhoods and I would be in favor of the Council reconsidering this issue. I believe Crime Control is everyone’s problem and decisions concerning these matters have no boundaries. A few years ago I made the comment that I could use all the help I could get. Any Law Enforcement Executive that could get additional help would be negligent in their duties to refuse additional help.


In response, Omaha Police Chief Eric Buske spoke with Dunning and issued the following release:

In response to Sheriff Dunning's request for assistance checking on the addresses of Registered Sex Offenders in Omaha, the Omaha Police Department will assist the Sheriff's Office.

Chief Eric Buske and Sheriff Tim Dunning spoke today and procedures will be worked out between the agencies. The Omaha Police Department will play a supportive role, with the primary responsibility still resting with the Sheriff's Office and Nebraska State Patrol, per State Statute.

There will be no overtime funds expended by OPD checking on Sex Offender's addresses.

The Jim Vokal for Mayor campaign released this statement:

Today’s agreement between Chief Eric Buske and Sheriff Tim Dunning that would allow the Omaha Police Department to assist the Douglas County Sheriff’s office in the monitoring of high-risk sex offenders provides the strongest repudiation to date of the claims made by Aaron Hanson and the Omaha Police Union.

This interagency agreement proves without a doubt that the attacks leveled against me are completely dishonest and have little to do with public safety or educating voters. At no point did the Omaha City Council ever stand in the way of cooperation between these law enforcement agencies. Contrary to Union claims, no vote or action of mine or my colleagues has ever “blocked” Omaha police officers from assisting sheriff’s deputies in tracking sex offenders. Today’s developments confirm that fact.

Moreover, Sheriff Dunning said today that no ordinance from the city council was necessary for this law enforcement partnership to commence. This is significant, since Sheriff Dunning was one of the original “sources” cited by the Police Union to back up their fictitious claims.

This development should make clear the real motives of the Omaha Police Union’s attacks on me and my candidacy for mayor. At any point in the last week, last month, or last year, union leadership could have walked in to Chief Buske’s office and urged him to allow police assistance in the monitoring of sex offenders, and it seems very clear today that their request would have been granted.

Instead, Aaron Hanson and the union leadership have spent their time and resources on a public smear campaign, both criticizing my opposition to their exorbitant pension demands and developing a direct mail campaign full of baseless accusations and inaccuracies about my record on public safety. Yesterday’s flyer is perhaps the most egregious scare tactic yet, indicating that high-risk sex offenders are at large because of the council’s action when the reality is that many of the men listed are already behind bars.

More than ever, the circumstances surrounding today’s agreement demonstrates that these fliers have little to do with increasing public safety and everything to do with impacting my campaign as the only candidate for mayor to release a plan that would fix the pension system and by reigning in benefits and eliminating spiking.

Now that their claims have been proven false, I call on the Omaha Police Union to put an end to these attacks. I would also ask that fellow candidate Hal Daub, who recently indicated his agreement with these claims, to publicly denounce the false and unsubstantiated content of these mailings.


Leavenworth Street requested a statement from the Daub campaign, and at the time of posting had not yet received a response. We will post an update when we receive it.

**Update**
We're not sure that we are going to get a response from the Daub camp, so we instead take the transcript of Hal Daub on KFAB's Scott Voorhees show two days before this on Monday, 2/16/09:

(Voorhees asked Daub if he would condemn the Police Union's mailer)
I don't like the idea of that kind of an approach to an issue. But my record is fair game for my opponents.

So you have to decide if the issue's important. I think its a very important issue.

Grand Island, Lincoln, La Vista, Bellevue, all have the rule.

This can't be twisted to say "the Police Union doesn't like Jim Vokal". He voted for their police contract. He voted for "spiking" -- they're not mad at him about that.

They want the city to be safer, that's their job. And when you've got 70% recidivism with sexual predators, high profile risk people, living in neighborhoods where kids walk.

The police don't want to be accused of not doing their job by not having the tools and the resources as Sheriff Dunning asked them to deploy -- because the Sheriff has 43 sheriffs on road patrol in the outside-the-city-limits part of our city. They don't patrol the City of Omaha -- that's the Omaha Police's job under our joint agreement with the Sheriff.
So, I think the issue is important here. And what your position is on the issue has nothing to do with overtime or all these other things that are being obfuscated here.

If I get to be Mayor, I'm going to ask the City Council to reconsider that decision. You handle "spiking" in the negotiations. You handle overtime by telling the Chief if you have a drive-by shooting, you handle overtime by taking it out of something else and keep your budget balanced.

Talking about finances is trying to cover up the record that's clear.

Let's talk about the issue: Are you for or against giving the police every single bit of resource and authority they need to deal with people who are repeat offenders and dangerous people that live in our community.

I think the vote was wrong. I commend Garry Gernandt and Jim Suttle for voting for it. They voted correctly for the safety of our city.
***

Note that Leavenworth Street noted in a post earlier today:
And frankly, according to the Nebraska Administrative Code, regarding Sexual Offender Registration, while it is the State Patrol's duty to verify that a convicted sexual offender is on the Registry, it states:

"Local law enforcement agencies are requested, but not required, to periodically verify that the registrant is still living at the listed address."

And:

"Any law enforcement agency, court, or state agency finding evidence of Violations of the Act or these regulations may take any authorized law enforcement action."

That's it.

So, as near as we can tell, that "request" is still in effect. And Omaha Police can still do it, with or without the City Council's amendment.

68 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vokal is saying that Hal Daub "indicated his agreement with the claims" laid forth by the police union in the flyers? When and how did he do that??

Anonymous said...

He said it on Scott Voorhees show on KFAB, as SS pointed out in earlier post.

3rd Floor, that is correct, right?

Anonymous said...

Granted, I didn't hear Hal on the Vorhees show, but according to SS's account, Hal just said he would have supported the measure if he would have been on the City Council. It doesn't say that he "indicated his agreement with the claims" in the flyers as Vokal is saying.

Anonymous said...

How does this all wash the council's hands of the issue.

The issue only came before the council when the Fahey administration and then Police Chief Warren made Virgil Patlin stop performing these checks during down time. It was ordered by the OPD that these type of checks were to stop.

As a remedy and in order to allow them to resume, maybe even on a more broad basis, the ordinence was proposed. And rejected.

Now, after heat was put on, the OPD decides to allow the checks.

Thank you OPD for getting it done. It may have been an ugly way to do it, but that is the way it goes sometimes.

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:43
Same here...I didn't hear it, but I read the transcript. Not sure where Vokal thinks Daub agreed..nope not seeing/reading it. Hhhmmmm.

Anonymous said...

"Let's talk about the issue: Are you for or against giving the police every single bit of resource and authority they need to deal with people who are repeat offenders and dangerous people that live in our community."

Except the authority wasnt the city council's to give Hal! This was always between the Chief and the Sheriff and Vokal had no impact on it whatsoever.

Anybody check on the city council ordinances allowing this in Grand Island, Lincoln, Bellevue, or LaVista as Hal suggests? That's because they don't exist - its an agreement between law enforcement agencies, same as here now.

Becka and Vorhees were right to ask Hal to condemn. He did not, so he is complicit.

Anonymous said...

Why are you trying to pick a fight between Daub and Vokal? This is ridiculous. Daub didn't comment. Don't re-type old quotes to put words in someone's mouth.

And if you're going to pretend to be a journalist, why don't you tell us all your name?

Ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Have you ever heard of the words, "no comment"? I am disappointed. You are a tool of the Vokal campaign, whether you are in denial about it (which I doubt) or not.

Anonymous said...

You know how you can tell a really good politician? When they're asked a simple question, like "Do you condemn this flyer?", they spend the next ten minutes talking about how awesome they are but never answer the question.

Anonymous said...

How about some perspective?

This anonymous blog is actually whining about not getting a response from the Daub campaign!! Like a newspaper?! Or a normal blog?!

Except he's ANONYMOUS!

Have you ever heard of a politician or a political campaign at any level giving the time of day to a journalist whose identity was kept secret from them?

Street Sweeper, shame. And time to get a real job.

Anonymous said...

Behind the curtain:

Quote from Street Sweeper, comments section, previous blog entry:

"From WOWT:
'Channel 6 News has learned that like his predecessor, the current Chief -- Eric Buske says his officers would help if asked but believes the job generally goes to the state patrol and sheriff.'
So if help is needed, why doesn't somebody ask?"

Vokal press release, today:

"At any point in the last week, last month, or last year, union leadership could have walked in to Chief Buske’s office and urged him to allow police assistance in the monitoring of sex offenders, and it seems very clear today that their request would have been granted."

Either you are from the Vokal camp or you are talking to the Vokal camp exclusively. You are biased.

Street Sweeper said...

You people are friggin' amazing.

You bitch that we only put up Vokal's releases (when we recieve a release from Vokal).

You bitch when we don't get something from Daub.

And now, when we put up HAL DAUB'S EXACT WORDS from just two days ago, you bitch about that!

A-freaking-mazing.

Anonymous said...

What do you mean, "you people?"!!

Anonymous said...

This is the Give Cops A Raise Sign Guy......I think my sign says it all!

Anonymous said...

"You bitch that we only put up Vokal's releases (when we recieve a release from Vokal)."

You mean "(when Jordan McGrain gets up so we can use his computer to copy and paste his talking points into a new blog entry)."

Anonymous said...

What's this I see? Another Leavenworth Blog posting? I haven't read it, or any of the comments, yet, but judging from the earlier entries, I bet it goes something like this:

1. Street Sweeper introduces a theme and subject right out of the Vokal/McGrain playbook.

2. He offers a few arguments in Vokal's favor, right out of McGrain's Talking Points.

3. He offers one halfhearted token argument in Daub's favor in order not to appear over the top. (Note: may be replaced by an unrelated compliment or word of advice directed at Daub.)

4. After giving Vokal's side of the story, he 'throws it open' for his readers to post comments refuting him.

5. When his readers point out his errors he berates them for not 'getting it' and peppers the comments section with more cross-examination talking points from the Vokal camp.

Street Sweeper said...

No, it's like this:

Sweeper decides to do a post on political issue.
He gives everybody a chance to respond.
Sometimes campaigns DON'T respond.
He posts something anyway.
Campaign proponents who don't like what they read, write in to bitch and mooooooaaaaan how UNFAIR Sweeper is.

Rinse. Repeat.

Once again, thank God your candidate is a stand up guy who doesn't complain like you do.

Anonymous said...

Funny how all those folks who were pretending the sex-offender thing was a legitimate issue have now disappeared -- now that it appears all the police ever had to do was talk to the sheriff to get this thing worked out.

The sex offender thing is, and was, a complete fabrication - just as SS has been saying all along.

We all knew, 7 days ago, this was all about spiking and political payback for Vokal's objection to spiking.

Aaron Hansen is a hack, and he is tarnishing the reputation of Omaha police officers. The only thing Hansen is accomplishing is this: He is making absolutely certain that the OPD will never again be given the benefit of the doubt. Welcome to the next 20 years of being every public official's favorite villain, OPD.

When the average Joe in Omaha thinks of the police, he doesn't think of heroes, or public servants or bravery or anything like that. He thinks of his next-door neighbor who retired with a $90,000-a-year pension while still in his 50s. And then how those same police fought so hard to protect their sacred cow that they actually accused a city councilmen of harboring sex offenders.

I don't care who wins the Mayor's race, but the loser is already clear - it's the Omaha Police Dept under Hansen's leadership.

Anonymous said...

I agree, the results are already in. The loser in these city elections is the Omaha Police Union.

Anonymous said...

Spiked pensioners, Frank Brown, sexual offenders, Jim Vokal: I'm nauseated!

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. Here we have a Sheriff contradicting the police union and telling concerned citizens who call his office that he knows where all these sex offenders are. Then he says he needs help keeping track of them because they give false addresses. Then he states that the City Council turned down his plea for help. It was a plea dammit! And Vokal turned him down. But now there's an agreement between the two agencies that required no action by the City Council.

Folks, this is pitiful. This is not Sheriff Dunning's finest hour. This is not the police union's finest hour. No wonder crime in Omaha is out of control. It will be interesting to see exactly how many checks OPD does when they can't use overtime. Hal Daub should put out a plan on how to clean up OPD. This is a golden opportunity for him to show some leadership.

Anonymous said...

The point I take from this hullabaloo is that scary sex offenders in our midst is a political hot potato.
The Omaha Police Union would have you believe that should we favor their candidate for Mayor over another than sex offensives in our community would lessen.
The fact is that the overwhelming number of offensives against our communities children are committed by a family member or friend of the family.
Even if we monitor the hell out of those known sex offenders, our children are still in danger.
So whether Vokal or Brown voted one way or another has nothing to do with the safety of our kids.
And that is the flaw in the Police Unions reasoning; they are using scare tactics much like former (thank goodness) VP Dick Cheney used when he claimed we had to go into Iraq to protect the USA from weapons of mass destruction.
Random sexual assaults are scary and loathsome, but they represent a small percentage of the offensives against our kids.

Ricky From Omaha

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to OPD Union Chief Aaron Hanson on getting our city's police the ability to help the Sheriff's office keep track of these predators.

Jim Vokal is the loser here. If he was in favor of the police doing this service where was his comments supporting this action over the past 3 years???? Oh thats right he recently stated it was a jurisdictional and Spiking issue.

As I stated before overtime is a management issue and Chief Buske said no overtime would be required.

Anonymous said...

3FW - how exactly did Hansen "get them the ability to help the sheriff's office?" Seems to me that Buske just made a decision. The same decision he was always authorized to make.

If OPD or the sheriff's office were in any way functional this would have been done years ago with a simple agreement. Just like in Grand Island, Norfolk, etc. ...Just like it was done yesterday.

So Hanson claims he's worried about sex offenders - but instead of just having his own boss make the decision (as was done yesterday), he waits more than 2 years and then spends union dues to send out mailers claiming Vokal and Brown have a lot of sex offenders in their district. Nice. Would-be criminal masterminds, look out! OPD is on the case!

But the real concern that I have is that the mouthbreathers over at the police union flail about and scream that all these guys are "missing", when it turns out every one of them is accounted for. Umm... gee, I wonder how we ever managed to rack up so much overtime, what with this crack team we have on the job. CSI has nothing on us.

OPD needs to spend less time, energy and money fighting for their bloated pension and more time addressing the city's rise in violent crime.

Anonymous said...

Vokal was on KFAB this morning purportedly to claim his "vindication" on the issue of voting against OPD checking on the location of level 3 sex offenders while between radio calls. While it was pretty early (before 7 AM), he offered up yet another justification for his previous vote on the subject and then spent the rest of the short interview stuttering/stammering away to end on expressing his "pride" in not being endorsed by either the fire or police unions.

Anonymous said...

3rd Floor,

Where in hell has Aaron Hanson been the last three years? I mean besides creating attack mail in a dank basement with the help of Hal Daub?

Anonymous said...

A short scene --

Vokal: I'm not touching you. I'm not touching you. I'm not touching you.

Daub: Stop it.

Vokal: SEE??!! He's negative! I demand an apology.

Daub: [no comment]

Street Sweeper: Yeah, WE demand an apology! How dare he ignore us!

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:04 --

Ha ha! Now THAT'S funny! And oh so true! :)

Street Sweeper said...

Not sure what you're getting at in that short dramatic reading.

But since many of you seem to be up in arms about this post...

We requested comments from the Daub camp regarding this news. They chose not to respond to us (and it doesn't look like they had responded to any of the news outlets).

But...since we are harranged by Daub supporters every day that we publish a Vokal release and don't have anything from Daub, we figured it would be helpful, if not commended, that we put the transcript from Daub talking about this earlier in the week.

Frankly, I think it helps Daub's position, in that the Omaha Police seem to be doing what he suggested regarding avoiding the spiking issue.

We still think, politically, he should have thrown the Union under the bus on the issue of the flyers, but that's not even the issue on this anymore.

The real hero in this situation is, of course, Leavenworth Street for proposing the solution that Sheriff Dunning decided to pursue.

We'll await our Key to the City in the mail...

Anonymous said...

Thanks Sweeper for the best laugh I've had seen listening to Jim Suttle talk about uses for the new downtown ballpark...ROTFLMAO!!!

Anonymous said...

"Not sure what you're getting at in that short dramatic reading."

Really? Are you serious? Anything at all that has been seen as negative towards Jim Vokal, Jim and his cronies have blamed Hal Daub! Hal has not done ANY negative campaigning. Jim's just trying to make people think that Hal's negative and cantankerous.

Come on. You claim you are so politically astute. Why are you claiming ignorance on this? I'm a Hal Daub supporter, but of course Jim Vokal should try to make Hal look old and cranky and negative. He's doing what he should, I suppose.

Hal is experienced, aggressive, and has the best ideas for the city. Jim Vokal doesn't want anyone to know that, so he keeps trying to drag Hal down to his level. It ain't gonna work.

Anonymous said...

Sweeper,

As one interested in politics my concern isn’t that you post Vokal comments or press releases w/o comment from Daub or Suttle. Rather, it is your lack of any serious analysis of what you are being fed by Vokal and your blatant bias towards, and staunch defense of, his positions. If you can’t lend any sort of objectivity in the Mayor’s race, perhaps talk about something else. There are some things going on outside of Omaha (hard to believe I know) – Illegal Immigration ordinances, Conceal Carry Laws (AGs recent opinion and how that impacts municipalities), the Unicameral (Property Tax and Death Penalty proposals).

Anonymous said...

For those whom responded to my last Post: I do give credit to Aaron Hansen. The Mayor, Jim Vokal and the rest of the council, and 2 police chiefs did nothing on this for the past few years. IT IS THEIR JOB TO SET POLICY!!!!!!!! When does a Union Chief set management policy for the city? hwow me where before the police union mail Jim Vokal or the other city leaders did anything on this. If it wasn't for Aaron Hansen's mailer, Buske wouldn't have made his announcement yesterday.

Furthermore what has Jim Vokal done to prevent spiking. Nothing!! The council has the purse strings and could have cut overtime in the police and fire department.

Street Sweeper said...

Beltway bloggie, and others...

1) This is a blog about POLITICS (as we like to say, "it's in the title"). If you want to talk about the policy of various things that you're interested in, there are a zillion other blogs out there for you to hit, or, you can start your own. We may even link to it.

2) Late yesterday there were a bunch of press releases flying in on the topic of the week. We chose to try to just post them all and let the readers sort it out. Again, we thought we were being helpful by posting Hal Daub's actual words, but apparently that made his supporters angry.

3) It's amazing that nearly every comment in here comes at THIS BLOG -- instead of commenting on what has been said by the candidates, those involved, etc.

For example, we put a fairly detailed analysis of the political positions taken vis-a-vis the OPOA's flyers. Do we hear any comments about that? Any criticism? Any suggestions that it was right or wrong or misses the point, or whatever?

No.

We instead hear L. St. is bad or dumb or biased or whatever you'd like to pick out.

So here's the deal: We'll keep writing about politics in Nebraska. (Note for you west of 190th St: if something politically interesting happens there, we'll write about it. Please feel free to let us know.) We give you the opportunity to keep reading.

If you have an opinion, or would like to comment about what you're reading, have at it.

(Now where's that City Key?)

Anonymous said...

I have an idea for discussion that doesn't have anything to do with the Omaha mayor's race. Governor Heineman -- accept Federal stimulus money or not accept Federal stimulus money on principle? Please discuss. :)

Anonymous said...

So everyone else is crazy but you.

Anonymous said...

Again, like his idol, 3rd Floor misses the point ENTIRELY.

Why send out thousands of dollars in mailers when a simple phone call from Hanson at any point in the last year to Chief Buske would suffice?

Uh, BECAUSE HIS CONCERN IS NOT ABOUT TRACKING SEX OFFENDERS!

It's about Hanson being pissed that Jim Vokal's won't let him retire with a pension equivalent to 99% of his salary.

Seriously 3rd floor, you say some dumb stuff in your tireless defense of all things Hal, but no one in their right mind can defend, let alone give credit to Aaron Hanson on this.

Anonymous said...

I find the radio ads from the police union very interesting.

"We understand spiking needs to end."

Really? Then end it! All the power to do this lies with the Police Chief and the Union. No contract negotiations are necessary to eliminate spiking.

Just more dishonest blabber from the Police Union.

Anonymous said...

Totally Realistic Jordan McGrain Poll #324:

Who do believe in the Jim Vokal vs. Omaha Police Union dust-up:

Omaha Police Union: 43%
Saint Jim Vokal: 3,223%

[based on a totally random auto-dial of Jim Vokal's 23 family members]

Anonymous said...

To the Vokal Camp Anonymous Posters: Wow, I really must have hit a nerve!! Here is my take on your boy Jim Vokal.

1) Jim has been a councilman for 8 years.

2) He has never shown any leadership on police or fire overtime

3) To my knowledge he has never met or corresponded to the mayor or the Police chief on amending police work schedules to end spiking.

4) Jim Vokal voted for a contract that allowed spiking

5) Jim Vokal has offered no budget amendments to decrease police or fire overtime.

6) Jim Vokal has done nothing in recent years to make sure the police have enough officers on the streets to reduce crime and the need for overtime pay.

So Jim wants to be mayor but won't take responsibility for his miserable leadership as a member on the council. PATHETIC!!

Anonymous said...

Want to give us Hal's record too, or is that also a secret?

Anonymous said...

Hal's record on what? When he was on the City Council for the past 8 years?

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:15 - Hal has a plan to fix the pensions, but it's top secret. It's buried deep in his secret lair right next to his top-secret plan to lure the royals back to the downtown stadium.

Just trust him - vote for Daub and he'll solve everything. He just can't tell you HOW until you vote him in.

Anonymous said...

Hey 3FW - your idol Daub was on MECCA for years and years. What did he ever do to keep the Royals at the downtown stadium in Omaha?

Oh wait - he didn't care about it until his 4th run for Senate collapsed and he began running for mayor. NOW he's interested in the Royals issue.

Daub is 10 times the politician Jim Vokal is.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone ever added up how much of his life Hal Daub has spent running for office?

Anonymous said...

Daub let this one get away. He had a perfect opportunity to show some leadership and hasn't done it. In his interview with Vorhees, he said he was going to ask the City Council to reconsider their decision. Why? The problem just got solved. Without Hal Daub's input and without wasting the City Council's time. People are focused on the OPD right now ad this is a great time to give out some plans for dealing with them. Instead, Daub sits quietly. Is he that scared of the police union?

Street Sweeper said...

Note that Daub's interview with KFAB's Scott Voorhees (with partial text included in this post) took place on Monday, 2/16. The Sheriff and Omaha Police announced their deal on Wednesday, 2/18.

-Ed.

Anonymous said...

I understand that Daub gave his interview before the DCS and OPD agreement. I question his understanding of both the problem and the solution. Did he imply that sex offenders merely had to move into the city limits to escape monitoring by DCS? And his solution of making the city council address this yet again was proven 2 days later to be a waste of everyone's time.

Daub needs to send the police union a big "Thanks for nothing." for their ham-handed approach.

Anonymous said...

Exactly my point, Street Sweeper. You are quoting Hal as if it is contemporary with the Vokal press release. How can you blame us for reading it that way, and the previous poster for making that mistake?

You should stick to 'the candidate did not immediately return our email.' and not try to put words into peoples' mouths.

Jim Vokal is using you as a tool to try to start a fight with Hal Daub.

(did I just say that out loud?)

Anonymous said...

Kinda like Hal Daub using the police union to start a fight with Jim Vokal, eh?

Anonymous said...

"Kinda like Hal Daub using the police union to start a fight with Jim Vokal, eh?"

That's a pretty big assumption, isn't it? You know what they say about people who assume, right?

Anonymous said...

So the Vokal camp just canceled a fundraiser because no one RSVP'd. Jordan you better run a poll!!!

Anonymous said...

Someone should keep track of the number of occorunces of "Jim Vokal" in this post, and compare to "Jordan McGrain" so we know who we are really talking about.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Jordan Vokal's Landow????? Rumor has it Jordan has been promised the Chief of Staff position. That is scary!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm....so what would Street Sweeper be in a Vokal Administration? Communications Director?

Anonymous said...

I want Jim Vokal to quit using my photo on his website. we look nothing alike!!!

Street Sweeper said...

The only job I would accept, in ANY administration -- Daub, Vokal, Suttle or Scarle -- would be Toboggan-Run Czar.

-SS

Street Sweeper said...

It's "SquidWARD".
(sheesh...)
http://spongebob.nick.com

Anonymous said...

That is funny Sweeper. Can you post Vokal and Squidward side to side.

Anonymous said...

No, he can't. It would upset Jordan.

Anonymous said...

Jordan McGrain? Chief of Staff???? You have to be kidding me. Talk about tanking an organization. The City would be doomed!!

Street Sweeper said...

The reporter, or the country?

In any case, because of Councilman Vokal's...unique...features, we get about a suggestion or two a week for an SAB. Pick your favorite bald movie or cartoon character who may or may not have buggish eyes, and you'll get the idea.

We might go for a round-up of SAB's as the primary draws nigh.

We've done a couple for Suttle, but only one for Hal Daub at this point (look at the list). Feel free to send in suggestions for these three and we'll see what we can do.

-SS

Anonymous said...

Um, Jim Vokal and Squidward

Anonymous said...

Yeah, any suggestions out there, folks? If only someone had an idea!

Anonymous said...

Hey leave Paul Landow alone. He was one of Omaha's best mayors. They should rename part of the downtown area by the river, LANDOW's LANDING as a tribute.

Anonymous said...

Hey, 3rd Floor Watcher, why not show some guys and reveal your name?

Anonymous said...

Hey anonymous, shows some guts and reveal your name.

Anonymous said...

KETV had a story about the police union's campaign to convince people they really want to solve the pension problem. As always, the proof is in the pudding, but I find it extremely disingenuous that a mere days after sliming one of the mayoral candidates, they want to be seen as a solution to the problem. Note to Officer Hansen: your slimeball tactics undermine your sincereity.